Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 ZA Zeiss Distagon T

Best for

Grade (Out of ten)

Description

This Sony 35mm Zeiss offers an incredibly wide f/1.4 aperture, making it an excellent option for creamy bokeh, low light and fast shutter speeds. The 35mm focal length is a nice standard wide angle useful for a variety of scenarios, or works more like a 50mm on crop sensor E mount cameras. The lens scored a respectable 38 on DxOMark tests, which is tough to do with wider apertures.

While the lens scored high overall on the image tests, at the widest aperture, the edges are a bit soft and there is some vignetting. The lens performs best at f/2, which is still faster than Sony's f/2.8 option. Sony also has a feature where you can enable automatic vignetting correction in camera, which helps to make the slight shading on the edges a non-issue. While offering solid images and a wide aperture, the lens is pretty heavy for a wide angle prime, weighing over a pound. Mounted on a mirrorless camera, the set-up will feel front-heavy, which is unusual for a wide angle prime. The lens also comes in at a higher price point. While certainly not perfect, this lens offers the highest image quality and widest aperture for a 35mm prime Sony mount and is a solid option for pros with the most need for optimum quality.